It Truly Exists? I'm Really, Utterly, Truly NOT Crazy?
by nightheartbattles
Summary: This is me: Billie. I am 14. I live in New Zealand. I go to America for a movie audition. We visit Long Island Sound. I somehow end up at Camp Half-Blood. Along with other campers, I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I meet all the characters that I used to think were fictional but have always hoped were real. I'm not crazy! Yay! How do I take this news?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I've had this idea in my head for a couple of weeks now... had to write it down... Hope you like it!**

**DISCLAIMER: No PJO, HoO or HP characters feature in this chapter. Piper McLean and The Lost Hero are owned by Rick Riordan, as is Camp Half-Blood and its whereabouts.**

* * *

"Okay, girls! I know you're all very excited for our upcoming trip to America!"

Of course I was excited. I was getting the chance to have my first real-life audition for a movie - Piper McLean in The Lost Hero! I knew I was probably nothing like the real-life Piper (I was sure she actually existed, no matter how hard my friends tried to convince me otherwise), but I wanted to give it a shot anyway.

"Now, today we're going to spend this period discussing exactly what we'll be doing there, such as the states and cities we'll visit, the national monuments and hotels we'll be staying in."

Ms Parkes drew a large calendar on the whiteboard. This calendar covered two months of time - April and May! The group of us going were highly lucky. A group of people in New Zealand had offered the chance for a group of teenagers to go to America to audition for movie roles. We all auditioned for the chance to go, and got chosen! Even better, they were paying most of the expenses! We just had to pay for the flights to and from America!

"Now," Ms Parkes began, "the first week is entirely audition phase one. We will be staying in a large house, four girls to a room. I will allow you to sort that out yourselves when we are done discussing this. The second week is the recalls, or, as they are sometimes called, callbacks. For those who do not get a recall, there will be activities planned at the house. We will, at one point, go to Washington DC. However, the other adults and I have agreed to keep most of what we are going to do a secret. However, at one point, we will have a day out in the country, walking, talking, having a picnic etc."

"Where in America will this be happening, Ms Parkes?" Of course. My lovely, but infuriating cousin, India, who used to live in Canada, had come back to New Zealand (finally!) at the beginning of this year. She was nice, pretty, smart, and had a similar sense of humor to me - we were almost the same person, cloned, but with different bodies. Of course she'd be the one to ask.

"Long Island Sound."

My heart skipped a beat. This was my chance to find out if I was crazy or not. Ever since reading my now-favorite series, I had seen... things... everywhere I went. My friends all thought I was crazy. My not-so-close friends thought I should see a psychologist about my 'hallucinations.' My close friends just accepted me for who I was. My cousin, however, one day actually quietly admitted to me that she had been seeing things too. Then, a boy I dance with started looking over his shoulder everywhere he went.

I knew something was up. I might have been crazy, but I wasn't dumb. Going to Long Island Sound would prove to me whether or not I was crazy - if I could see Camp Half-Blood, and my cousin cold too, I wasn't crazy. If I could get in there... a dream come true.

"Billie." I heard a voice.

"Billie!" Startled, I looked up.

"Class just ended!" CJ, one of my best friends, was standing next to my desk. I realised I must have been daydreaming. I walked out of the classroom with CJ, India, Meg, Mickayla and Soph, with Camp Half-Blood and demigods still on the brain.

* * *

**Hey! Sorry it was so short... I just wanted to see what people thought of the beginning. Most of the trip in America will not feature in the story. The auditions might, but I'm not sure. Definitely the cast list!**

**Camp Half-Blood will feature shortly, as will Harry Potter and Hogwarts.**

**Please review! Blue cookies to anyone who does!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you liked the last chapter! **

**I'd like to thank percyjacksonfan135 for being my first reviewer! And, also, I'd like to say that I've read and loved your story 'Differences are not Defects'!**

**DISCLAIMER: No PJO, HoO or HP characters feature in this chapter. Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque, Reyna, Jason Grace, The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune are owned by Rick Riordan, as is Camp Half-Blood and its whereabouts. And I don't know who wrote the song 'Kiwi Kids' but it certainly wasn't me!**

* * *

"Billie, Courtney, hurry!" My mum called up the stairs. "You don't want to be late!"

CJ and I were hurriedly grabbing suitcases, backpacks and any other last-minute things we thought we might need in America. For me, that meant the box set of the Percy Jackson series, along with my e-reader for the Heroes of Olympus series.

"Seriously?" Courtney said incredulously as she caught me stuffing the box and my e-reader into my carry-on bag.

"Yes, seriously!" I snapped.

CJ looked hurt.

"Sorry," I said, calming down. "But, me and planes..."

She nodded her head sympathetically and forgivingly. "I get it," she replied, proving, yet again, why she was one of my best friends in the entire universe.

"Thanks," I said. CJ always understood whatever I was going through. Our little group had a silent pact: "Whoever's being picked on is the ruby. The rest of us make up the steel walls of the vault. They've gotta get through the rest of us to get to her." For us, this meant that we'd always have each others backs, and whatever one of us was going through, the others would be there immediately to help out. We never truthfully criticised each other. We were like a family. We were sisters.

"Come on, CJ!" I said excitedly. We grinned at each other and raced each other down the stairs. It was quite hard; we were both carrying a large suitcase and a carry-on bag each. I won, though.

"Girls," my mum began, "get in the car, I'll be there in a sec!"

"Okay, Mum!"

CJ and I ran out to my mum's little metallic-baby-blue car. We both jumped in the back. Soon after, my little sister ran out of the house, complaining about how unfair it was that we got to go to the USA for two months, and she had to go to school.

"This is so not fair!" she grumbled, pouting.

"Life's not fair Rylz, now build a bridge and get over it!" I laughed as Rylie stuck her tongue out at me. I stuck my tongue out back at her. Call me immature, I don't really care. She gave a little 'hmph!' and crossed her arms, pouting.

* * *

We dropped Rylie off at school before turning back and driving to the Christchurch International Airport. All the way there, I was freaking out. I'd never been in a plane crash, but the turbulence was always bad. I hate planes for more than one reason. One, I hate small spaces. Two, I hate heights. And three, I hate being suspended off the ground. So planes are like my worst enemy - besides a couple of girls I met when I was nine and ten respectively.

"It's be fine," my best friend tried to reassure me. Key word: tried. No matter what she said, I could not calm down.

* * *

Arriving at the airport, we checked in before saying goodbye to my mum. I hated being on planes without her. She was the only one who could calm me down. CJ and I navigated through the airport to where all one hundred auditionees***** were supposed to wait. Finding our group of girls, we sat down to wait.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled round only to see my best guy friend smiling down at me.

"Jack!" I said. "You auditioned to audition?"

"Yep," he stated simply, nodding. He seemed calm, but I could tell he was excited, but just as scared of the plane trip as me. One look at his eyes could tell you that much.

"Hey, CJ!" he said.

"Hey!" My bestie was Jack's third cousin, 42nd cousin, however you want to say it. Fast version: CJ's great-grandmother was Jack's great-great-aunt's sister. So they're related.

"So," I began, "what character are you auditioning for, and which movie are they from?"

"I'm not really auditioning for anyone..." he said. "I'm just... auditioning. Preferably an extra though; when you were twelve I told you I didn't really want to be a movie star..."

I remembered him saying that. Oh, for those who don't know, I'm almost fourteen. CJ's just fifteen, Meg is fourteen, Mickayla is fifteen, and India and Jack are almost sixteen.

"So," Jack said. "Who are you guys auditioning for?"

CJ answered first, "Like you, not really anyone in particular. I just want to participate."

Jack nodded in agreement. "And you?" he turned to me.

"I'm a little more ambitious than you guys..." I said.

"Go on," CJ said.

"Well, although it's a long shot, as I'm a year or so younger than the character, I was hoping to audition for Piper."

"You're sure to get her! You can do brilliant accents, even though you're kiwi! Remember, when you were nine, we recorded you and Emma Watson saying the same line, and no one could tell the difference!"

I shrugged non-committedly*. I wasn't too sure - Soph was also auditioning for that role.

"What movie?" we all asked.

"Is it a series or a once-off?" I asked.

We all said, "Series."

"What movie?" CJ asked me.

"Heroes of Olympus," I replied.

"Me too!" she squealed. I was glad to finally find out. She wouldn't tell me, no matter how much I bugged her.

"Me one-hundred-and-fifty-eight!"

I raised my eyebrow at Jack.

"What? 'Me three' just sounds so boring, don't ya think? I wanted to make my response sound more interesting!"

CJ and I laughed at his twisted piece of logic. Soon, Jack was laughing too.

"Soph, Meg and Indi are all auditioning with us," I said. "Meg's like you guys: she's not really going for a specific part. Soph's going for Piper or Reyna. I know it's weird, but they're auditioning for the Son of Neptune now too. I think they'll be filming side by side... Anyway, Indi's going for Hazel Levesque. I think she suits the part."

Jack and CJ agreed. With her dark hair and golden eyes, Indi was the perfect Hazel. You're probably wondering, But India's sixteen! Hazel is thirteen! Well, Indi was premature, so she's small for her age. She's shorter than me, and always has been.

* * *

Soon we were ushered towards the plane. I managed to catch my other friends' eyes. They struggled towards us.

"Hey, Jack," Sophie said, before talking to all of us as we walked. "Aren't you guys, like, so excited?!" she squealed. Meg clamped her hand over Sophie's mouth to keep her from squealing again.

"Thank you, Meg," Jack and I said in unison.

India grabbed my wrist and proceeded to drag me, along with the others, to the front of the group.

"We've got a whole section of the plane to ourselves, so we can sit anywhere we want," she informed. "If we want good seats near each other, we've got to be at the front!"

India dragged us through the gate and onto the air bridge. Pulling us along that, she had a very determined look on her face.

India finally let go of my wrist when we had sat down in our perfectly chosen seats. I looked down at my hand. There was a large red mark around my wrist where she'd grabbed it, and I noticed I could feel my hand. Huh, I thought, I hadn't even noticed it was numb.

I glared at India. Not a mean glare, more of a joking one. It still scared her.

"You cut off my circulation," I growled menacingly.

"S-sorry!" she squeaked. "I won't do it again!"

I held her gaze for another beat before glancing at my other friends. They all looked like they were holding back laughter. I didn't bother trying. I burst into giggles, my friends joining in.

"Did you see... her face?" Sophie choked out.

"Yep!" Meg giggled. "Billie was all like, you cut off my circulation, and Indi was all like-"

"S-sorry! I won't do it again!" Jack finished in a falsetto high voice. That didn't do much to help us get over our giggles. India glared at us, but we kept laughing. Soon, Indi caved in and began laughing too. I vaguely noticed the other auditionees watching us like we were crazy. Then again, they weren't wrong.

"May the seven teenagers in row 16 please end their laughing fit? Thank you." We froze at the sound of the voice over the loudspeaker before bursting into silent giggles.

Ting! I looked up to see the seatbelt light on. I quickly fastened my seatbelt and gripped my chair. Jack did the same.

"Are you guys scared or something?" A voice whispered from somewhere further down the row. I turned to see Lachlan, the famed thirteen-year-old gymnast from my performing arts school. His electric blue eyes were filled with confusion.

"Yes," I replied. "We're both terrified."

I knew who Lachlan was auditioning for. Basing just on his age, you'd never think he'd even have a chance for the part. But, though he was young, in a year he'd really shot up. He'd gone from the blonde-haired, muscled, short kid, to the blonde-haired, muscled, tall kid in just over a year. He was taller than me now. That annoyed me a little; I was almost a year older than him! 335 days older! Yes, I counted. Get over it. Anyways, Lachlan was auditioning for Jason Grace in the same movie as me - the Lost Hero. Jason's the main character in that, and Lachlan actually has a really good shot at getting it. I was so excited when I heard that the Heroes of Olympus character ages would stay true to the books - that really annoyed me about the Percy Jackson series. It meant that we had a chance of being in it! It was also really exciting when I found out the movie producers were going to allow Kiwi kids to audition.

Looking back on that, I found myself sitting in my plane seat humming the chorus of a song I used to sing when I was younger.

_'Kiwi kids are rockin' it, rockin' it_

_Kiwi kids are tops!_

_Kiwi kids are livin' it, livin; it,_

_Look what we've got!_

_Kids can do anything, anything_

_Give it a try!_

_Kiwi kids are rockin' it rockin' it,_

_Just watch us fly!'_

I noticed Jack staring at me weirdly. I quickly stopped singing.

The plane jerked forwards. Jack and I gripped our armrests, our hands touching. I gripped his left hand with my right as he gripped the armrest between us. He looked up at me, confused, but didn't say anything.

The plane continued to roll forwards. It started off slowly, then began to get faster and faster. Jack squeezed his eyes just. A millisecond later (okay, maybe longer than that) I did too. Suddenly, I felt the plane's wheels leave the ground. We were in the air. And I was terrified.

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**Okay, I hoped you liked that chapter! Percy & Annabeth & co. will enter next chapter!**

**Any questions about my writing and I'll be happy to answer! **

**Reviewers: I don't mind if all you put is 'update soon'. It tells me that there are people out there who actually want to keep reading my story. I don't mind if your review is a question, or even something totally random: It tells me someone is reading my story. However, if you criticize my work, I will get mad. There is a fine line between critiquing (which is fine) and criticizing (which is not). Make sure you don't cross it.**

**Thanks for reading my story!**

**- BJ :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry, I lied. Percy and co won't come in for a few chapters - I need to have the cast list and them being in Manhattan first... SORRY!**

**Hope you liked the last chapter!**

**I'd like to thank percyjacksonfan135 for being my first (and still only) reviewer! And, also, I'd like to say that I've read and loved your story 'Differences are not Defects'!**

**I will dedicate each chapter to a different reviewer at the top here. I will answer any questions asked up here too.**

**DISCLAIMER: No PJO, HoO or HP characters actually feature in this chapter. Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque, Reyna, Jason Grace, The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune are owned by Rick Riordan, as is Camp Half-Blood (and its whereabouts). **

* * *

I sat in silence, rigid in my seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Jack was the same. Neither of us had moved since the plane took off, even though we had been flying for two hours. I let my mind wander, but unfortunately it kept shooting back to the same thought: Jack and I were holding hands. I felt awkward, but I didn't dare move. I knew I'd never be able to move; I was much too scared. Besides, I didn't know how it would affect him - he might completely freak out.

_Ooh, somebody's got a crush_, said a nagging voice in the back of my head.

Shut up!

_Why? Tormenting you is so fun_!

Oh, get a life!

_Technically, I am a part of you, so_...

Mmm... what should I name you... Juliet or Teri? I know! A combination: Teriet!

_Teriet? Uggh, that's ugly_*.

I know, that's the point.

_Why are you so mean to me? Please change it! Please, please, please!_

Not until you shut up!

_NEVER!_

Then at least talk without making any sound!

It felt so weird having a conversation with myself. I must be going crazy, I thought.

_Yes, yes you are_, Teriet said.

Okay, Teriet sounds to weird... from now on you are... She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!

_NOOOOOO!_

I ignored SWMNBN** and continued to sit in silence.

* * *

At one point I realised that the plane had gone very quiet. I dared a quick glance around at my friends. Sophie, Meg, Mickayla, Courtney and Lachlan were all asleep. Sophie had fallen asleep in the middle of doing her make-up. Her oversized box of make-up sat on the tray in front of her, and only one eyelid had eye shadow on it. I stifled a laugh. I didn't want to wake the others. India was reading. I couldn't see what it was. All I knew was that it was a very big book. She adjusted in her seat, and I caught a peek at the cover. Of course. She was reading The Son of Neptune. Why wouldn't she be? It's the movie she was auditioning for, after all. I stared back at the seat in front of me. I didn't now ow long we had been flying, but I was getting restless. It was times like these I was glad I wasn't Percy Jackson, or even Leo Valdez. My ADHD was much milder. Lucky me. Not lucky Jack. I think it was only his fear that was keeping him from moving around a whole lot. His ADHD wasn't too bad, but it was worse than mine.

* * *

About an hour later, I noticed I was getting really bored. I carefully and deliberately pried my left hand off of my armrest, my right still firmly clenched in Jack's fingers. I used my left hand to put my tray down, and picked up the book that I had placed on my lap in advance. Thinking ahead was always a good thing. My book wasn't as thick as Indi's but it contained the same characters. I was reading Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Titans Curse. It was odd. Lachlan was Nico at the beginning of the book, and Jack was Nico at the end. Lachlan was a hyperactive, easily excitable ten-year-old when he was younger. Now, he was still hyperactive, but just a bit less peppy. Jack, on the other hand, went from being an idiot to being hardened and emotionally guarded and strong. It wasn't very often that he let is guard down, but I could tell that sometimes he really fought to keep it up. I often wondered what had happened to make him like that; so closed off, and seemingly strong, yet probably the complete opposite. I mean, he had an awesome family. He had an elder brother, and two younger half-sisters. He and his brother looked really alike, but neither looked anything like their sisters. The two boys had black hair (or was it super-dark brown? I couldn't tell) and medium-brown eyes. The two girls, one aged twelve and the other aged ten, had long blonde hair and warm, chocolate brown eyes. You could tell that the girls were sisters; that was obvious. But when Jack had told me and the others that they were only his half-sisters, it wasn't as large a shock as I'd expect something like that to be. It actually seemed kind of obvious in hindsight.

I forced myself to switch my focus from my guy friends to my book. It wasn't as hard as I'd expected. I guess I'd used up all my thoughts on that topic. Or maybe it was because The Titan's Curse was a really good book.

* * *

I opened my eyes to find most of my friends sitting up and talking. Jack was asleep. I was glad he'd finally relaxed enough to rest. It was surprising though; his hand was still tightly clenched around mine. I was surprised I could still feel my fingers, but I was mostly surprised that his grip was so strong while he was asleep. I wanted to move, but I didn't want to wake him.

The seatbelt light dinged. I turned on the TV in front of me and checked our flight progress. We were there. I gently shook Jack's shoulder to wake him up.

"Wait, what?" he said groggily, removing his hand from mine to wipe his eyes.

"We're landing," I told him.

"Oh," he replied. "Oh, okay."

I could slowly feel the plane lowering. I stared at the flight progress screen, watching the altitude reduce. We were slowly entering the airport. Half of me wanted to speed up the descent, to get it over and done with, but my other half had decided that slower was safer, and therefore, not as terrifying.

As we neared the ground, Jack grabbed my hand. Sophie looked over at us with an eyebrow raised. I shook my head slightly at her.

And 3...2...1... touchdown! We had finally landed.

* * *

***If anyone has a similar name, I don't mean to be rude. I just had to think of a way for SWMNBN to express that she did not like the name - Billie had to annoy her,**

**** SWMNBN: She Who Must Not Be Named**

**Thank you for reading this! Please review! Whatever you review with, I would just like to know that at least one person is actually interested in my story!**

**- BJ**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hope you liked the last chapter!**

**I'm going to dedicate this chapter to percyjacksonfan135 (again) for being my first reviewer, and for giving me the most reviews! I also dedicate this chapter to barber477, and my friend who only reviewed as a guest.**

**To percyjackson135: The answer to the question you asked in your last review is: you are 100% correct.**

**DISCLAIMER: No PJO, HoO or HP characters actually feature in this chapter. Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque, Reyna, Jason Grace, The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune are owned by Rick Riordan, as is Camp Half-Blood (and its whereabouts).**

We walked through the airport in groups: a girls' audition group with a boys'. Jack and Lachlan's group was put with mine and my friends'. Sophie, India, Mickayla, Courtney, Meg and Lachlan talked avidly as we walked. They discussed all sorts of things: the auditions, the possible hotels, possible sightseeing, and everything else that you might talk about when you're in the LA airport for the first time. I was glad to see Mickayla, Courtney and Meg talking; they were usually quite quiet. Jack and I walked in silence, still with the group, listening to the conversation, but not inputting any ideas of our own. We had both been to LA before, so some of the conversation topics at first were a little boring. However, after a while, the topics moved from LA to the auditions, and then to Manhattan. Everyone wanted to explore the two very large cities thoroughly; they were so enthusiastic I didn't know if there'd be enough time to see and do everything everyone wanted to see and do. It might sound crazy, but, apart from the auditions, I was anticipating the walk around Long Island Sound the most. I voiced these thoughts to Jack, and I was surprised with his answer.

"I agree," he said, nodding his head. "I know what you mean about seeing things. I constantly feel like I'm being followed."

"I know - you're always looking back over your shoulder," I told him.

"That obvious huh?" he said. "Anyway, it'd be nice to know I'm not hallucinating. If we can see this place, we'll be able to live our lives knowing we aren't delusional. If we could get in... we'd know that our lives would never be the same again."

We walked in silence for a few minutes after that. I didn't even pay attention to the group's conversation. I was too busy thinking about what Jack had said - what I was thinking about Long Island Sound. I was glad, and extremely anxious. I was glad because it was nice to know that someone out there felt the same way I did. And I was anxious because I kept thinking, _What if we don't see it? What if we actually are hallucinating?_

I shoved that thought to the back of my mind. After all, you can't audition without a clear head, can you?

* * *

"Okay, listening please!" Ms Parkes called out to our two groups. Well, really we were just one big group now.

Our teacher continued, "This is where we will be staying for the next two weeks! Now girls, I noticed there are fourteen of yo, so do we have two groups of three girls?"

Our little group of six put up our hands.

"You know who you're with?"

We nodded.

"Good. Mr Pooch, the boys?"

"Okay, guys," Mr Pooch began, "We have three to a room. I have taken your considerations into account, and here are your groups: Isaac, Matthew and Jake, Reagan, Ben and Josh, Kieran, Oliver and Luke, and Daniel, Lachlan and Jack. Choose a room on the left of the hall and unpack!"

"Yes, sir, Mr Slimdog!" the boys chorused, saluting, before marchig - yes, marching - dow the hallway

Yeah, Mr Pooch was pretty cool. Though the boys never called him that. To them, he was Mr Slimdog - and it was catching on with the girls.

"The same with you girls, but on the right," Ms Parkes called.

We walked towards the door to the rooms, chatting excitedly.

* * *

I thumped my bag down on the window bed. Our room consisted of: a single bed by the window, a single bed on the wall by the door, and a bunk bed on the other wall by the door. I had the window bed, obviously. CJ had the wall bed, and Meg was sleeping on the bottom bunk. We'd just finished unpacking the essentials when Soph, Indi and Mickayla walked in.

"Hey girls!" Sophie said excitedly.

"Hey!" the three of us (me, Meg and CJ) replied.

"Whatcha doing?" India asked.

"Nothing," Meg replied.

We sat in silence for a moment. Then, Indi's eyes filled with a mischievous glint. I knew enough about her to instantly be worried.

"What is it?" I asked her tentatively.

"Boys. Prank. I think you get my drift..."

We mimicked her mischievous grin with grins and smirks of our own.

"Okay, someone shut the door," Sophie ordered, switching into her not-often-seen 'business mode.' "Indi, you're the leader. We've got a prank to plan!"

* * *

Indi and I snuck around the back of the building we were staying in. We peeked through windows to see if we could recognise any of the boys' things. They were all still at dinner. We had eaten quickly and left the dining hall early, just for this. We both had pillowcases slung over our shoulders. These sacks were full of things for the "BHA-BP" - the Brilliantly Horrifying Against-Boys Prank. We were carrying fart bombs, cans of whipped cream, fake spiders and cobwebs, fake snakes, fake stuffed eagles, and one put-it-together giant, mechanical Chimaera. Don't ask me how Indi got ahold of these things - I don't know myself. She wouldn't tell me, or any of the others.

* * *

_"Okay, so, who can get the things we need?" I said. "If we have to, we can split the items between us."_

_"I can get everything," Indi said._

_"Everything?" CJ asked incredulously._

_"Everything," Indi vowed, nodding._

_She wasn't lying, either. Not half an hour had passed after she left, she arrived back with boxes stuffed full of everything we originally asked for, plus more (including the Chimaera). _

_"How did you get that?" I asked, stunned._

_"Don't ask," she replied. "I just did."_

_"Yes, but how?"_

_"As I said before, don't ask," she responded, an annoyed tone creeping into her voice. "I can take all of this back, you know."_

_We didn't ask again. _

* * *

The boys' room was easy enough to recognise. Daniel's hair gels and moisturizers and colognes smothered the floor. I briefly wondered what the others thought about this, and decided I didn't want to know. As Indi was the smallest, she handed me her sack and slithered through the small gap between the edge of the window pane and the wall. Silly boys - they should have known better than to leave their window open when we were around. Upon infiltrating the boys' bedroom, Indi quietly opened the window all the way so the sacks of 'practical laughter-creator tools', as Indi liked to call them, fitted through. I squeezed the two sacks through the gap, and Indi placed them on the ground silently. Then, I climbed through. I wasn't as nimble as Indi, so she had to stop me from falling flat on my face through the window. After that, it was easy. We set everything up in record time - five minutes for the Chimaera, and another five for everything else. We easily sneaked back out of the window, closing it back to the way it was, and ran back to our room (which we climbed in through the window. Inside our room, we walked back to the dining hall for dessert, claiming we had just been to the bathroom (which was totally believable, as there was only one toilet in the closest bathroom, so the time we took was reasonable), and sat down at our seat, not once showing any signs of having done anything more unusual than going to the bathroom.

The six of us wandered back to our bedroom slowly, chatting about all sorts of things. We all walked in to my bedroom (though it's not just mine) to talk while we waited. We didn't have to wait long. Just twenty seconds after we sat down, we heard screams coming from the boys' room. We laughed silently for two seconds, then stood up and left the room, pretending to be curious, and to have had nothing to do with it, just like everyone else was truthfully behaving. We pulled it off pretty well, I have to say. Though, all six of us were actresses - it was our job to be good at it.

We ran down to the boys' room, only to see Jack staring wide-eyed at the eagles, snakes and spiders, Lachlan attempting to rip the Chimaera to pieces, and Daniel... I didn't know why he was screaming. I found out pretty soon though.

"My hair gels!" he cried. "My moisturizers, my colognes... they're all GONE!"

Onlookers (including us), couldn't help but laugh. Yeah, Indi and I had hidden all of his beauty were all still in the room, and I could see most of them from where I was standing, but Daniel was too blinded by his 'catastrophe' to notice. The other five girls and I exchanged glances, before splitting up to help the boys. CJ and Meg were helping Jack by picking up all the fake creatures and throwing them out the window. Indi and Mickayla were dragging Daniel around the room, helping him 'find' his beauty products. In that short glance, we'd decided that Indi and I should split up to help find things (meaning the products and the switch to the Chimaera), since we were the only two who knew where everything was. Sophie and I searched the automaton Chimaera's body for the switch. At least, Sophie searched. I just pretended to - I already knew where it was. After a little bit of 'searching', I 'found' the switch and turned the Chimaera off. Indi and Mickayla had managed to round up everything belonging to Daniel, who was clutching it tightly (though I had no idea how he managed to carry it all), and CJ and Meg had gotten rid of the invading animals. Then we went to bed. Not really. It took a while for everyone to calm down and stop laughing, and after that, we got into our pajamas, had hot chocolate, brushed our teeth and then went to bed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you liked it! Please please please (x10000000000000) review! Also, don't forget to thank Hermes for the internet!**

**Bye from me for now!**

**- BJ :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! No, I'm not dead! I hope you liked the last chapter! This one's quite short, sorry, but I felt like it was a good place to end chapter 5. Next chapter will be longer to make up for it, I promise!**

**Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed or favourited my story. It really means a lot. Everytime I go on my account and see a new follower or review, I have to really restrain myself from squealing in excitement. I'm 13, I get easily excited, and I'm a bit of a nerd. What can I say?**

**Hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

Finally. Today was the day. We'd spent months memorizing scripts and perfecting accents, and today was the day we were going to prove to all those Hollywood big-shots that kids from little ol' New Zealand had just as much right to be movie stars as kids from the US or England.

Saying I was nervous - now that was the biggest lie I've ever heard. Usually, I was nothing but excited when it came to performing or auditioning - but this morning I felt like I was going to be sick. Two girls and three guys actually were! It was only nerves though, so they were still allowed to audition.

A few things were motivating my friends and I to do well in, and actually finish (without being sick), the auditions. The first was the driving ambition to prove that New Zealand had just as much talent as anywhere else. But the other reason was our bigger one: the need to perform. I know, I know, shouldn't wanting recognition for our country be more important? Well, no. We'd rather perform and have everyone forget that we were from New Zealand than not perform at all. So yeah, performing was more important.

Sitting on the bus, driving to the studios where the auditions were being held was, and there was only one word for it, excruciating. My friends and I had decided that we were going to talk in any accent EXCEPT a Kiwi accent on the bus ride, so it was quite funny hearing the range. Jack kept switching back to an Australian accent - and laughed every time he said the short vowel 'I', as in 'it'. I swapped between three accents - generic American, of course, plus my two home accents (that aren't Kiwi), which are UK Cockney and UK British. It was always fun to fool around with accents. After a while, we began to talk in other accents. I had no clue how we'd managed to pick them up. I assure you, we weren't mocking any nationalities - the accents were actually really good. At one point we tried out Scottish, then Irish, then a real Southern American tone. It was a bit odd hearing my friends talk with accents I'd never heard them use before - though I guessed we probably all thought that. I loved being able to just hang out with all of my friends. I knew that if any of us got a role, we wouldn't be able to do anything like this for a long, long time. It was kind of sad really, and I found myself savoring the moment.

* * *

The studios were amazing - and we were only in part of the whole complex. Most of it (as in 99% of it) was shut off. We simply got to see a couple of the recording rooms used for animation movie voices and three story-board meeting rooms. Oh, and a giant conference hall with a whole lot of tables, each seating 6 people. To get an idea of how big it was, you need only know one this: all 100 of us kids (plus 8 adults) fitted in there with 10 tables left over. So it seated 168 people.

I hated to admit it, but everything was really hard to process. Being ADHD made taking things in hard. Well, it was actually really easy to take in and process - but hard to remember as I noticed all the little things.

* * *

We were shut in part of the open section of the studios, while the three storyboard rooms were being used for auditions. Three people auditioned in each room at a time, and for three hours each. After much pestering, Jack and I found out that we weren't need for another three days. As today was the first day at the studios, we were allowed to explore the available rooms. As Jack and I wandered, we talked.

"I'm finding it really hard to remember everything we see," he admitted.

"Me too," I replied. "I've been wondering how we're going to write today's journal entry if we can't remember everything."

"That might be a problem," Jack agreed. "I wish we were allowed to keep exploring the storyboard rooms. There were so many brilliant drawings, however sketchy and rough they may be."

I was struck with a great idea. "Jack - draw everything!"

"What?"

"Draw what you can see!" I repeated. "That way we can copy of the drawings for our journal entry!"

His eyes lit up with excitement. I knew I had come up with a great idea. Jack loved drawing, as much as I loved to write, if not more.

We ran back into the meeting room and Jack grabbed a small sketchbook and a pencil case from his bag. Our first day at the studios was spent sitting in a recording room, singing while Jack sketched everything around us. And by everything, I mean everything. I enjoyed sitting on the floor, watching Jack draw. Every stroke had a meaning, every brush of the pencil had life in it. I was mesmerised. Jack didn't dismiss any line as small or worthless; each line was as important as the next. We sat like that for three hours, Jack drawing, me watching. Occasionally I'd point out something he missed, but mostly I let him get on with it. After the first hour, I could do nothing but sit and stare, enchanted by the forms the pencil lead marks were turning into. It felt like a spell had settled over the room; neither one of us dared break the silence. But that didn't matter. The room was bewitched, I was enthralled, and we were both content with the quiet.

* * *

**Like I said, I thought that was a good place to end that chapter. I hope you agree, and I promise the next chapter ****_will _****be longer to make up for this short one.**

**Hope you liked it! Please send a review - they are not necessary, but are really appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi! No, I have not been taken to Hades' realm! I hope you liked the last chapter! This one's quite short as well, sorry, but I felt like it was a good place to end it. I know I promised a longer chapter but - sorry. The next chapter will be a bit odd, as there'll be a lot of time-jumps in it, but it should be longer.**

**Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed or favourited my story. It really means a lot. Everytime I go on my account and see a new follower or review, I have to really restrain myself from squealing in excitement. I'm 13, I get easily excited, and I'm a bit of a nerd. What can I say?**

**Hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

The house was quiet. The stars shone, and a small thread of moonlight slipped through our curtains and onto the grey carpeted floor. I couldn't sleep. I sat on my bed, my knees pulled up to my chest, my cheek resting on my kneecaps. CJ and Meg slept soundly, unaware that I wasn't in dreamland like them.

A light breeze drafted through our slightly-open window. The cool wind felt good. I was struck with an idea. It wasn't exactly original, as I had read about it in a book, but I liked it all the same. I pulled my sheet from my bed and grabbed my pillow before sneaking over to the window. I pushed it open wide, and slipped between the frames.

Outside, I felt free. I tied my sheet around my waist and held my pillow between my teeth. Gripping a pipe, I hauled myself up onto our windowsill. I continued climbing from there, scaling the wall. I passed the second floor windows, and gripped the gutter pipe on the roof. Straining my arm muscles, I pulled myself onto the flat, slightly-sloped roof. I sat my pillow on the concrete and laid down, staring up at the stars. I was surprised I could see them - there had been a lot of clouds that morning.

Up on the roof felt really peaceful. I was alone, the breeze sliding over my bare arms, keeping me cool, and I felt like I was going to fall asleep.

Footsteps on the roof made me jump. I looked up to see Lachlan staring up at the stars.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked. I didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter, as Lachlan continued as if I wasn't there. "I love the sky," he murmured. "It's ever-changing. The sky is never the same. There's always something different." He looked at me then, before speaking once more. "It's a bit like the sea, without the restless attitude. Ever-changing." The last two words were spoken in a whisper.

The thirteen-year-old walked over and sat beside me before asking, "What do you think?"

"Ever-changing is a good way to describe the sky," I replied. "There's always something different. Not out of place - just different."

Lachlan hummed in agreement, and I continued, "It's not like the sea. The sea is ever-changing too, but it's restless, colourful, and dangerous. The sky is calm, mysterious and beautiful. I still love the sea, though," I tacked on as an afterthought.

"Of course you do," Lachlan chuckled.

"I still don't get why you like flying so much," I commented. "At any moment, you could plunge to your death."

Lachlan replied, "Well, you could drown in the sea."

"Touché."

We sat in silence for a while, before I noticed Lachlan looked like he was trying to force himself to stay awake.

"You really should sleep," I told him.

"Don't want to move," he mumbled in reply.

"Well then, just wait here."

Before he could protest, I had swung myself off the roof and was clambering back down the wall. I dashed to my bedroom and silently dragged the pillow and blanket from the spare bed before climbing out of the window and scaling the wall again. When I reached the roof, Lachlan was fast asleep, his head resting on his left arm. I lifted him up and slid half of the sheet under him and the other half I laid over him. I gently raised his head and slipped the pillow under him before resting his head down on it.

Quietly, I set up a 'bed' for myself in the same fashion, before laying down on my back and counting the stars.

It was very early morning when I woke. I heard movement coming from the room below me - which was the female adults' room. I knew they'd be checking all of the bedrooms to make sure everyone was awake soon. I glanced over at Lachlan. He was still asleep. I easily roused him and together we scrambled down the side of the building and parted so that Lachlan could run around to the other side of the dormitories.

When I entered my shared bedroom, Meg and CJ were still asleep. I watched them with a small smile on my face before turning to my small set of drawers that housed my clothes. After a short five minutes of contemplating what to wear, I'd decided on a simple black knee-length skirt, black leggings, my sea-green chucks, a simple, plain black t-shirt, and a denim jacket with a black dragon sewn on the back. The dragon's one visible eye was made from a sea-green rhinestone. Once dressed, I strode over to where CJ slept and poked her in the back until she woke. Knowing that Meg was a very deep sleeper, we sneaked into the bathroom and filled up a glass of water each. We creeped back into the bedroom and over to where Meg was sleeping soundly. Silently, I looked at CJ and nodded. Together, we mouthed one, two, then yelled out 'THREE!', tipping the water over Meg's head. She woke up, spluttering, and attempted to glare at us. We all burst into giggles when she failed miserably.

Compared to my ten minutes getting changed, Meg and CJ randomly grabbed clothes and threw them on.

We walked down to the dining hall to find most of the kids already there. Only Daniel was absent, and I laughed inwardly at the most likely reason for him to be late. I whispered my theory to Meg and CJ, who laughed quietly as we walked to the table our friends sat at.

"What re you laughing about?" Sophie asked.

"Daniel," CJ replied.

"What about him?" India asked. Jack and Lachlan caught on, but the others didn't.

Meg told her, "Just a reason he may be late, involving hair gels, moisturiser and other beauty products."

Our whole table was fighting back laughter, and was still giggling when Daniel arrived and sat down. He looked at us confusedly and said, "What?"

* * *

**Hope you liked that chapter! Like I said, next chapter'll be a bit odd, but bear with me please!**

**I'll try to update again as soon as I can, but we're nearing the crisis point of our school musical, Dreamgirls, rehearsals, so I'm super-extra-ultra busy at the moment! As soon as the production's over, I'll update more regularly, but for now, I'm sorry if updates are quite spaced apart!**

**Thanks,**

**BJ :-)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay! Another update! I was working on this during rehearsal... the leads were doing a scene, and I wasn't needed, so... I really should have been doing homework, and I told myself that, but then I thought, 'screw homework, I really have to update!' I know I didn't HAVE to, but if I don't write a certain amount in one day, I become ill. I get didn't-write-enough-today-itis, or Writing Deficiency. Did you know that in NZ, over 50% of young women have vitamin D (the sun) deficiency? Even weirder, this can be prevented by having 1 hour less school each day during the winter. Tell that to your teachers, see what they say!**

**Like I said in the last chapter, this one's a little higgledy-piggledy, and the next couple will be as well, as I'm anxious to get to CHB, and I need to get through their stay in America. I've already planned how they're going to get t CHB - I just need to get there!**

**Hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

Today, I was nervous. Really nervous. And by really nervous, I mean almost positively petrified. Almost. In case you didn't guess, today was my audition day. I'd like to say the few of my friends auditioning today as well were less nervous and able to give me support, but if I said that, I'd be lying. Jack, India and Sophie were all just as nervous as I was. We weren't really much good for each other's nerves. Meaning we sat in silence, staring at the walls of the bus, unmoving. At one point, Lachlan actually said, "You look like Medusa caught you!"

When he said that, Jack, India and I flinched and glanced at each other. Lachlan frowned, but didn't question us. I was grateful for that.

* * *

However relaxing the first day at the studios was, today was the complete opposite - times 10. There was another hotel group with us that day. There were only four from our hotel group - me, Jack, Sophie and India. We didn't speak to anyone, and no one spoke to us. In a way, I was grateful for that. I thought that if anyone tried to wish me luck, I'd burst into tears and run crying from the room. I didn't want that.

* * *

Sophie was first to go in. She came out positively buzzing, super confident she'd gotten a role - if not a main one, but simply a camper or a Legion member with a line or two. India was second. She came out with a small smile on her face, and said that she thought she'd done okay, but that even if she hadn't gotten a role, she'd done her best, and she was proud of that. One of the accompanying adults congratulated her on her state of mind, but that was just India. She never expected much, and always congratulated people on 'doing their best', even if something went terribly wrong. Jack was called in about thirty seconds before I was. However much I tried to comfort myself, and fake some confidence, a part of me still wanted to run away and never come back again. I'd never been more nervous in my life.

* * *

My audition was being held in the room Jack and I had sat in on the first day. A small window connected this room to the room Jack was in though it as soundproof and I couldn't hear anything going on. He saw me through the window, and I gave him a thumb up to wish him luck. He smiled and imitated me before turning back to the person instructing him. I did the same, and vowed to myself to focus.

"What is your name?" the man auditioning me said.

"Billie Roberts," I replied with a confident smile.

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"Are you auditioning for a particular role?" he asked.

"Yes. I originally wrote down to audition for the role of Piper McLean."

"Do you have any expectations?"

"Sort of. I'd like to gain a role, any role, but if I didn't I wouldn't fly off the handle. Of course I'd be upset, but that's human nature, right?" I smiled again, shaking off the nervousness.

"Okay," the man said, writing down my responses. "Now, to begin, I want you to read this monologue. It isn't from the movie script, but was written for the auditions. Here." He handed me a small piece of paper with a paragraph of writing inked on it in pink.

I began to read:

Hi, I'm Piper McLean. I'm a half-blood, though the technical term is a demigod. My father is... I don't really want to say. As for my mother, she's a goddess. I'm not about to go and tell you which one, but let's just say no one was expecting _her_ to be my mother. I currently live at Camp Half-Blood, Long Island, New York. I have a few half-siblings, most of whom I love. There is one, however, I'm not so fond of. Her name's Drew. She's a... diva, I guess. She used to be cabin counselor, and ran the group like a dictatorship, until I came along. I'm cabin counselor now, thanks to my trusty knife Katoptris and my two best friends, Leo and Jason. We went on a quest to save the goddess Hera, though I was a little reluctant, considering what she'd done to Jason. We succeeded, though Jason was almost killed. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we saved my dad from an evil giant before heading off to save Hera. So, yeah. Then, of course, we had six months to wait and train while Leo built a huge Greek flying warship, the Argo II, before me, along with Jason, Leo and another girl, Annabeth, had to fly to San Francisco to collect the other 3 that were part of a terrifying prophecy. I have to say, apart from all the near-death experiences, it was quite fun. And no, Aphrodite, I did not care that I didn't shower for over a week at one point. So much for 'like mother, like daughter.'

* * *

I walked out of the audition room and back to the waiting hall to find Sophie and India in an animated discussion about the pros and cons of different gods and goddesses. Sophie believed Aphrodite to be better than Artemis, while India thought differently, though both agreed that Hermes and Apollo tied for the two best gods - Sophie thought Apollo would be extremely hot (and she was extremely boy-crazy), while India liked the thought of prophecies and healing, and India liked Hermes because of what he ruled, while Sophie decided that 'guys with a sense of humor were hot.'

I cleared my throat and the pair jumped. I put on my 'thinking face' and gave their discussion a little consideration before voicing my own thoughts.

"Well," I began, "I agree that Apollo and Hermes are awesome, but when it comes to Artemis and Aphrodite, I believe that they are about equal to each other. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, but you shouldn't take that to mean 'falling in love with guys' and 'being the most gorgeous.' Artemis is great, because she rules the moon, night and wild animals, but I think swearing off boys is a little extreme. If it wasn't for the alien species we call males, we wouldn't exist!"

"Who're you calling alien?"

All three of us jumped as Jack walked up behind us.

"Just caught the end of your conversation," he grinned, "And I believe that it is not males that are the alien species, but the weird creatures we call unicorns." He shivered. "I swear those things never resided on Earth! I believe they must have come from Jupiter!"

I considered it for a moment before saying, "No, I believe they must be a mix of Neptunian an Venusese.

"I agree," Jack conceded, guessing my logic. "Neptune, or Poseidon, created horses, and I can imagine Venus, or Aphrodite, wanting horses to have a little more... um... a little more..."

"Awwww!" Sophie guessed. "Or, in English, 'Cute Factor'?"  
"Exactly!" India exclaimed. "Cute factor! I can definitely imagine Aphrodite deciding to give horses a little more 'cute factor' and thus creating the unicorns."

"That must be it," I said. "After all, horses with pointy horns are definitely cute, aren't they?"

* * *

**Hope you liked that chapter! Sorry if it was a little confusing. Now, over the next couple of chapters, I'll add some info that may not seem to be relevant, or that may seem to have come in too late in the story, but it needs to be there for the whole making-time-make-sense thing.**

**I'll try to update again as soon as I can! **

**Thanks,**

**BJ :-)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi guys! I'm back! Sitting in Dreamgirls rehearsal as I type this! Sorry if the beginning of this chapter is a little odd, but the end is fine! Oh yeah... we're finally getting into the whole 'Percy Jackson' part! Read on to find out more...**

**Disclaimer: However much I may want to, I do not own a giant, friendly black dog named Mrs O'Leary. I own two tiny, white Bichon Frise's.**

* * *

Monday was a pretty exciting day. The teachers had been given a letter containing a list of those who had been asked for a recall. The letter read:

_To the International Children's Acting Association New Zealand Ambassadors,_

_We would like to see the following children back at the studios for a recall this week:_

_Sophie Grey_

_Lachlan Ici_

_Hannah Justin_

_Daniel Mitchell_

_India Nightingale_

_Luke Reed_

_Billie Roberts_

_Jack Sands_

_Also, we would like to ask if the following students would like to be campers from Camp Hal-Blood or members of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata at Camp Jupiter. The campers do have small roles:_

_Megan Blake_

_Courtney Marcell_

_Kane Syre_

_Xavier Syre_

_Any other students of yours who would like to be extras are welcome to be a part of our movies. Please email us a list of the students who would like to be a part of this._

_Thank you,_

_International Children's Acting Association Head_

_Brian Woods_

* * *

The next couple of months passed in a blur. We were constantly moving between recalls, group activities, and eventually, cities, and I only had one word to describe it all - exhausting. Sure it was fun, and a little nerve-racking, and exciting, but by the end of our stay in America, I just wanted to lie down and sleep for a whole week. I was so tired, I hardly paid any attention to anything the instructors said. I knew that 'The Last Olympian' was still in production, so it may have been a year before work began on Heroes of Olympus but I was grateful for the break. I did, however, come out of my stupor when the teachers announced we were going to Long Island Sound for the day. I noticed Jack sitting up straighter too, and I have to say: I was excited. Oh yeah, and completely terrified.

* * *

The drive out to Long Island Sound was boring. Jack, India and I were constantly looking over our shoulders out the back window of the bus, and out the windows on the sides. We all knew what the other two were thinking, or at least had a general idea. Half of me was hoping we didn't see the camp. That way, we could live knowing we were hallucinating, maybe get help, and we'd know we were safe from such a terrifying world. The other half of me was telling that half to shut the hell up, and was trying to convince it that seeing the camp was the best thing to hope for. I mean, who wants to know they're delirious? We didn't talk much, and no one pestered us to. We'd occasionally pitch in on a conversation, but other than that, we stayed silent. The bus ride was noisy, and we didn't stop the whole way there. The teachers had decided we should walk part of the way, so we jumped out of the bus before setting off on the hour-long journey to the beach.

We walked and walked and walked, until finally, the teacher announced we were there. We laid out rugs and picnic blankets and settled down for lunch. Just before we left to walk back to the bus, I looked back towards the strawberry farm one last lime, and saw a flash of bronze and a swish of blonde hair, before seeing a pair of analyzing, shocked grey eyes staring back at me. One look at India and Jack, and I knew they'd seen it too. I decided we mustn't have been hallucinating. I wasn't too sure how I felt about that.

* * *

The ride back from Long Island Sound on the bus was just the same as the ride there - except this time, it wasn't anxious silence India, Jack and I sat in. It was shocked silence. We simply sat and stared, earning a few worried glances from ou peers, but whenever they tried to ask us what was wrong, we simply waved them off, saying we were fine, not once actually turning to look at them.

* * *

Back at our hotel, Jack grabbed mine and India's wrists and promptly dragged us away. He led us down towards the river, and into a small cave. We sat down and made ourselves as comfortable as possible before India broke the silence.

"You guys did see that too, right?"

Jack and I nodded.

"That bronze..." I began.

"Sword," India said, knowing my question before I asked it. "I just managed to see the whole thing from where I was sitting."

I nodded in thanks, and Jack did the same.

"What did you think of those eyes?" Jack asked.

"They scared me a little," India admitted.

I nodded in agreement. "They were so intimidating. It looked like she was trying to figure out what we were thinking by staring at us."

"Probably was," Jack decided, lying down on his back, staring at the roof of the cave.

"I wish we could have stayed longer," I mentioned after a moment's silence.

"Yeah," India said. "We could have found out who that was!"

"And why we've been seeing things," Jack added.

I sincerely hoped we weren't just imagining something else.

* * *

There were five days before those without recalls or parts were due to return to New Zealand. The rest of us were staying in America, traveling around and returning to the studios when we were needed. We didn't go out much during this time. Instead, we played all sorts of trust and drama games. A few favourites were 'Honey If You Love Me Smile', 'Picture Postcard', 'Space Jump' (and all sorts of versions were played of that one) and 'Party Quirks.' The trust games weren't so fun, but my friends were glad to know that I trusted them so much that when you do the trust fall thing, my upper back/lower neck was hitting their knee. And I did trust them a lot. I think I'd trust them with my life. And those last five days were some of the best in my life.

* * *

It was three days after those without recalls left America that it happened. I'm wasn't sure how it happened, why it happened, or even exactly what happened. But it did.

We were walking around New York, visiting different places and just having a good time in general. At one point, we were allowed to walk around in smaller groups, so me, Indi, Sophie, CJ, Meg, Mickayla, Daniel, Jack and Lachlan decided to wander around together. We were just passing a large apartment block when there was a loud bang. We turned around to see a poodle standing behind us. I closed my eyes and shook my head before opening my eyes again. My eyes widened in shock. One look at my friends told me I definitely wasn't seeing anything. I mean, if you can see something strange, and eight of your friends see it too, it's highly unlikely you're hallucinating. I took slight comfort in that. Because standing in front of me, glaring, was a huge black dog, as big as a truck. A hellhound, according to Greek mythology. Slightly stupidly, I looked it in the eye, trying to show I wasn't scared. And I wasn't scared. Much. Okay, I was terrified. But I tried not to show it. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jack glaring at it.

All of a sudden, he growled, "Shut up, and don't talk that way about me and my friends!"

The dog looked at us confusedly, before opening its mouth into a huge doggy grin, and licking Jack up the whole length of his body.

"Hey!" he cried indignantly, trying desperately and unsuccessfully to remove the dog slobber that covered him from head to toe.

I heard a laugh coming from somewhere to our right. I whipped my head around to see a boy, perhaps eighteen or nineteen years of age. His messy black hair flopped into his eyes, and he was laughing really hard. At us, I figured. He walked up to the dog and began petting it.

"You don't have to be scared," he said, still petting the dog."Her name's Mrs O'Leary. She's she only tame hellhound in the-"

He broke off as a large, low growl echoed somewhere to our left. All ten of us whipped our heads around and stared in shock as about five more dogs, just like Mrs O'Leary, only meaner, stalked through the trees towards us.

Before we could do anything, they darted towards us. Jack, Lachlan and I bolted out of their reach before analyzing the situation. The owner of Mrs O'Leary had done the same. Our friends weren't so lucky. They were lying crumpled on the ground, unconscious, while the four of us stared in shock. I felt a little proud of being the only girl to stay conscious, but I shoved that feeling aside. I hoped the boy would do something - he looked like he was experienced in this. Much to my dismay, he ran inside the apartment.

_Coward_, I thought, as I dodged to the side, trying to outrun a hellhound. It turned out, he wasn't a coward at all. He came dashing outside, three swords in one hand and a pen in the other. As he handed me a sword, I looked at him quizzically, but he just shook his head in a gesture telling me not to ask. I turned back to the monsters, sword in my hand. Holding a weapon made me feel a little better, but not much. I'd never used a sword in my life, at least not where it wasn't partially rehearsed. I'd fought alongside Lachlan and Jack, and against them both as well, during recalls and practices for recalls. So I kind-of-ish knew what I was doing. But not really.

The monsters charged. I thought the three of us did pretty well, considering we'd never fought something like that before. It was all going okay, well, as okay as things could be going when fighting a monster that's out to kill you, but all of a sudden, my sword was ripped out of my hand. I watched in horror as it skidded across the road. I stared, terrified as the giant dog knocked me to the ground with its huge paw. My head hit the road, hard, and I could feel myself blacking out.

I saw Jack scream, "Billie!" though I didn't hear him, and saw his sword, which he'd just killed the dog he was fighting with, flying towards me. I sat up and gripped it by its hilt and drove the blade up into the dog's soft belly. As the black creature of hell landed with a thud and burst into a cloud of black dust, my left arm gave out and I fell onto my back, allowing myself to slip into unconsciousness.

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**I hope you liked this chapter! I'm pretty sure you can guess who the boy is, it's pretty obvious. They'll actually meet him properly next chapter, I promise! I'll start writing that chapter in a month. Or a year. Or now. Yeah, I'll start writing it now!**

**Bye,**

**BJ :-)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi guys! Here's another chapter! There are no real time jumps in this one - only pauses were she falls asleep!**

**I hope you like it!**

* * *

I opened my eyes to find myself... in a bed? And there was someone sitting next to it.

When he saw my eyes open, he yelled out, "MOM! She's awake!" And yes, he said it in an American accent. As I woke fully, I recognised him from the battle against the hellhounds.

When he turned back to me, I really struggled to hold back a gasp. His eyes. They were an odd colour - sea green, like mine - but that wasn't just it. They seemed endless. When he looked at me, I could imagine he was scrutinising my soul. I looked away just as a lady walked through the door, a lovely smile on her face. I guessed she was the boy's mother.

My suspicions were confirmed when she said, "Percy, honey, Nico's having trouble with the other boy, the older one. He won't eat or drink. Could you help out?"

"Sure, mom," the boy replied.

"Will Jack be alright?" I asked.

"He'll be fine," the woman reassured me. "I'm Sally, by the way."

"That's a nice name," I said, attempting to smile. "And your son's name is Percy, correct?" I asked. The woman nodded. "Is Nico his brother?" I asked.

"No. His cousin," Sally informed me. I frowned. This was strange...

"What is it, sweetie?" Sally asked.

"Oh nothing," I replied. When I noticed her looking at me oddly, like she didn't believe me, I told her, "I once heard about a boy named Percy. he had eyes like your son, and black hair too. He also had a cousin called Nico." I shrugged, and it was Sally's turn to frown. Her frown disappeared in an instant, and she smiled at me again.

"I'll run and grab you a glass of water, okay?"

I nodded, and she left the room, closing the door behind her. I heard her walking down stairs, and I decided we must be in a two-storey house.

As soon as I could no longer hear her footsteps, I slipped out of bed and creeped to the door. I quietly opened it and snuck out onto the second floor landing. I tiptoed down the stairs and listened in at the door.

"What do you think it could mean?" I heard Sally ask.

"I don't know," came the reply.

"What?!" a boy's voice cried. "Annabeth doesn't know something?"

Hmm... I thought. Could it be? I decided it was too unlikely a possibility.

"Shut up, death breath," commanded a third voice.

"Yeah," I heard Percy say. "But shut up to you too, Sparky. And really, Wise Girl? You don't know?"

"Sorry guys," I heard Annabeth's voice apologise. "I'll look into things, I promise. Okay?"

Each member of the group besides Sally and, of course, Annabeth, grumbled an 'Okay' in reply. Knowing the conversation was over, I darted back to my room before they could catch me.

* * *

Laying on my bed, I began to think. I drew up a chart in my mind:

Hellhound pet: clue one. Pet named Mrs O'Leary: clue two. Sea-green eyes: clue three. Name is Percy: clue four. Mother named Sally: clue five. Has a cousin called Nico: clue six. Friend named Annabeth: clue seven. Nico's nickname is Death breath: clue eight. Has a friend with the nickname of Sparky: clue nine. Annabeth's nickname is Wise Girl: clue ten

My eyes widened. I had a feeling I'd just figured out whose house I was staying in. I hoped I was right. If not... this world was seriously strange.

* * *

I must've fallen asleep, because I found myself awakening to bright light. Glancing to my left, I saw that the curtains in the bedroom were open and a large beam of sunlight was streaming through the room. I looked to my left, and Percy was sitting on a chair like he was the last time I woke up, but this time, rather than looking half-bored and half-worried, he looked extremely serious. It was slightly scary - but only slightly. Noticing me awake, he glared. It wasn't a super-harsh glare - certainly not an I'm-going-to-kill-you-later kind of glare - but I had a feeling it would have even scared a very brave man. As it was I just glared right back at him. I think that surprised him; for a moment a look of shock flitted across his face, but it disappeared pretty quickly. He settled for a light glare of annoyance.

"My mother told me you knew something about me," he said.

"I never said anything of the sort," I replied. "I simply told her you reminded me of someone I knew."

His eyes narrowed before he told me, "I need to test something. If you're... normal, I guess, this won't hurt at all. If not, I'll try not to hurt you too much, okay?"

I looked at him warily before nodding my agreement.

Percy pulled a bronze pen from his pocket and uncapped it, turning it into a three-foot-long celestial bronze sword.

_Well, that definitely seals the deal_, I thought. Despite what you may think, I wasn't scared. I knew what he was going to do, and I trusted him not to hurt me.

"Hold out your arm," he demanded. I pulled my right sleeve up and held it out without hesitation. He laid the blade against my skin and dragged it along my forearm. I gave a small hiss of pain, but that was it.

He looked at my arm in surprise, before saying, "Do you want me to heal that?"

I shook my head. "No thanks. I'd like to keep the scar it'll cause."

He looked surprised. "Why?" he asked.

"As a reminder," I shrugged.

He nodded slowly and jumped from his seat and darted out of the room. Even without eavesdropping I heard three voices - Percy, Nico and Sparky - exclaim something at the same time: "Yes!"

I heard them dart down the stairs and heard Percy say, "They are." I also heard the response of, "Yeah, the other six too," before I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

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**Hope you liked this chapter! Yay, they finally meet some of the characters! Well, not officially, but STILL!**

**Please review! It would mean a lot!**

**BJ :-)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey! New chapter right here! **

**Review replies: **

**purple llama (guest): Thanks! I'm glad you like it so much!**

**TeamLeo4Life: She was just suspicious, that's all. I based her reaction off mine. I know I'd be quiet suspicious if I was meeting the people I'd once thought to be fiction.**

**percyjackson135: I'll reply in a PM, as I don't want to give anything away, okay?**

**Disclaimer: Yay! I can finally put one of these in! I don't own any of the PJO for HoO haracters! All rights to characters and events in the original PJO or HoO series belong to Rick Riordan. I only own the plot line for this story and the OC characters!**

**Be warned: Spoilers and things that haven't actually happened in the books and cannot be confirmed or rejected as HoH has not been released yet are in this story!**

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The next time I woke, I didn't wake up of my own accord. Someone was shaking my arm. I looked up and saw the same penetrating grey eyes I'd seen at Long Island Sound, accompanied by the same shock of blonde hair. I tilted my head in confusion.

"Get up and get dressed into comfortable clothes," she instructed. "We've got your suitcase, don't worry. We've fixed everything with your acting school and the studios. Oh, and your parents." She walked to the door before saying, "Hurry."

I scrambled to grab comfortable clothing, and didn't even bother to look as I threw it on. Looking in the mirror, I realised I was wearing a simple, sky-blue t-shirt and a pair of dark blue sweatpants. I threw on my running shoes, snatched my hair into a simple ponytail, and raced downstairs.

* * *

When I got downstairs, I began screaming internally. I thought I was going to burst with utter joy and shock as I tried to hold the squeal in. Gods, that would have been embarrassing! Because standing in front of me were the people I'd read about, the people I'd dreamed of meeting since I was twelve.

"Eep!" Okay, I failed at keeping quiet. I wasn't the only one in shock, though. One look beside me told me that my friends had arrived, and they were just as much in shock as I was. Sophie and India were jumping up and down on the spot, while Meg had passed out and CJ and Mickayla were gaping at the group before us while trying to revive her. Lachlan was shaking his head as if trying to wake himself up, and Jack was simply staring.

I didn't know what to say, so I said the first thing to come to mind, "Gods, the movie producers really had no clue what they were doing."

That snapped Jack out of his stupor, and he looked at me as if to say, 'Gods, what in Hades was that?'

My sentence surprised them a little, but the blonde girl I'd always adored just frowned and said, "Well, I'm Annabeth Chase, and -"

"You're a daughter of Athena," India said, pausing in her silent squeals.

"How did you know that?"

"You'd be surprised at what we know about you guys," Mickayla informed the demigods.

"Yeah," CJ began. "You're Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and the girl on your left is Thalia, daughter of Zeus, who doesn't use her last name."

"Don't forget Nico di Angelo, son of Hades!" Jack added. He looked at the boy seriously and said, "And we're very sorry for your losses. All of you."

We all looked down, giving a moment of silence for all those lost in Titan war.

The demigods looked at us strangely, before Nico spoke up.

"They need to see Chiron," he said.

"Chiron?" Lachlan asked. "Trainer of heroes, and one of the only sane centaurs to ever have lived?"

"That's the one," Percy said.

"Oh, guys, we forgot about Percy!" I exclaimed. "You're Perseus Jackson, who prefers to be called Percy, slayer of Alecto the Fury-"

"Defeater of Ares, Medusa, Procrustes, the Ares Cabin-" Jack added.

"Retriever of the Lightning Bolt, Hades' Helm, and the Golden Fleece-" I continued.

"Venturer of the Sea of Monsters, the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and the Labyrinth of Daedalus-" Jack put in.

"And so much more that it would take us about an hour to finish the list," I finished. "Oh, and, though we don't want to bring up any possible-slash-inevitable bad memories, we're very glad you and Annabeth made it out of you-know-where. And of course, Nico too."

Percy and Nico grimaced, while Annabeth paled and said, "You're right Nico. They need to see Chiron ASAP. Percy, can you call Blackjack, Guido, a couple of other pegasi and Mrs O'Leary? And Nico, can you carry one of them?"

"I'll take a pegasus," Lachlan, Meg, CJ and I all said immediately.

"We'll go with Mrs O'Leary if we can," Sophie, Mickayla and India said.

"Wanna come with me?" Nico asked Jack.

"I could get their on my own I think, but sure," Jack replied.

"How would you get their yourself?" Thalia asked.

"Like this," Jack said, before running towards a wall. He appeared a second later behind Nico, shouting, "Boo!"

I would have laughed, but the shock was too much. Jack... just shadow-traveled. _How did he know he could do that?_ I asked myself.

Most of the others looked as shocked as I felt. Nico's expression, however, was one of pure and utter joy.

"I have a brother!" he cried before hugging Jack tightly around the middle.

"Woah, woah, Nico!" Jack exclaimed, trying to get his new-found half-brother to let the Hades go.

"Nico," Thalia began gently, "You can let go now."

"But I don't want to!" Nico pouted. "I have a brother!"

"Half-brother, Nico," Annabeth corrected.

"I don't care! First I lost Bianca, then Hazel... and now I have a brother, and I'm not going to lose him too!"

"Wait..." Jack began. "What happened to Hazel?"

Nico shifted and rested his head on his brother's shoulder. His eyes welled up with tears.

"She... I was in trouble. One of the giants, Alcyoneus -"

"The one Hazel resurrected?" India interrupted. "I thought she re-killed him?"

"Gaia brought him back through the Doors of Death," Thalia informed us.

"Yeah, so, I was fighting him, and at first, I was doing okay, but..." Nico sniffed. "Something happened, and I got tired. He was about to squash me flat when Hazel jumped in the way... He... he killed her instantly. I've visited her in Elysium since, but..."

"It isn't the same," Jack finished.

"Yeah."

Jack patted Nico on the back awkwardly as the young necromancer cried. Tears threatened to spill from Jack's eyes as well. I guess he'd realised that he'd lost two sisters as well. It was then that I realised that we all had family living back in New Zealand.

"Hey, Annabeth?" I asked cautiously. "What are we going to tell our families about all this?"

"I don't know," Annabeth replied. "That's one of the reasons why we need to talk to Chiron. The other is so we can figure out how you know all this stuff about us."

"Oh, that's easy," Sophie piped up. "We read about it."

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**I hope you liked this! Please review, it means a lot when you do! I love feedback and constructive criticism - or really, critiquing! No flames please! (Though I'm happy to say I haven't had one of those on this story!)**

**BJ :-)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey! Yes, I updated when I promised I would! They're actually at Camp Half-Blood in this one!**

**I own none of the Percy Jackson characters, or the book titles, or Camp Half-Blood. Enjoy!**

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She smiled at the group, trying to counteract Annabeth's frown.

"You read... Okay, let's just get to camp."

Percy did two kinds of whistles. One was a cab whistle, to call the pegasi, I other was more of a dog whistle, which was obviously to call Mrs O'Leary. I was right.

Only a short while later, three pegasi (two of whom I recognised as Blackjack and Guido), landed on the footpath where we fought the hellhounds. About a second after that, a large black dog appeared in the room we were standing in, taking up most of the space.

"Okay!" Percy called. "All those riding the Hellhound Express to CHB, get on now.

Sophie, Mickayla and India jumped on, Sophie at the front, India at the back. Thalia climbed on behind them. As soon as they were seated, Mrs O'Leary bounded into a shadow.

Once the dog and its riders had gone, Nico linked arms with Jack. The pair saluted, and Jack said, "So long, kind sirs and fair maidens!" before the pair sprinted towards a shadow and they, too, were gone.

The rest of us followed Percy, Annabeth and Sally outside where the pegasi were waiting. Percy walked over to Blackjack, and began to have a seemingly one-sided conversation with him. I knew better.

"Hey, Percy?" I called out. "Is Blackjack asking for donuts?"

My friends snickered as Percy replied, "As a matter of fact, yes. And I keep telling him that if he doesn't shut up about donuts right this minute, he will_ never get any ever again_." The last five words were said to the black, one-of-a-kind pegasus.

"Guido?" Percy said, turning to the fancy-flying winged horse. "Can you take Lachlan and Meg?"

The pegasus bobbed his head up and down, and Percy signaled for the pair to get on. The green-eyed boy then turned to Annabeth.

"Wise Girl," he began, "You're taking CJ on Levi." Percy gestured to a brown-and-white speckled Appaloosa pegasus.

Annabeth helped CJ climb on before mounting Levi behind her.

Blackjack turned to me and gave me a huge horsey grin.

"Yes Blackjack," Percy confirmed, mounting the excited flyer. "She's riding with us."

I smiled back at the black pegasus before climbing on behind Percy.

Percy nodded to Annabeth and Lachlan, and when they nodded back, he signaled for the pegasi to take off.

* * *

We flew through the air, and I felt a rush of adrenalin course through me. The ride was thrilling; for me and Lachlan at least. Lachlan looked like he'd been riding pegasi for years; he was truly a natural. Percy and him got Blackjack and Guido doing synchronised high-flying, including all sorts of dives and loop-de-loops. Meg looked scared, but I could tell she was enjoying herself.

In complete contrast with the male riders, Annabeth was simply gliding along, and CJ seemed pretty content with the low level of recklessness.

I surprised myself by enjoying the thrill-creating moves, mostly because of how high up we were. _But,_ I told myself,_ if Percy, a son of Poseidon who could be blasted down but isn't being blasted because pegasi are considered neutral territory between Zeus and his dad, is fine with it, I can be fine with it too._

I found myself laughing in joy, finding great relief in being able to do something so strange, and so terrifying, without freaking out. At one point, I caught Lachlan's eye, and he gave me a look saying, 'See? We're in the air and haven't crashed yet, have we?' I rolled my eyes back at him and we both smiled huge grins, happy to be enjoying ourselves without constantly having to look over our shoulders.

* * *

Landing at Camp Half-Blood, the four of us younger ones met up with the other four, and all eight of us actors attempted to shove away our anxiousness.

Wait, wait, wait... eight of us?

"Um guys?" I said. "Where's Daniel?"

"Styx!" Percy exclaimed. "We must've left him at my Mum's house. Nico, can you go back and get him?"

"Sure," Nico agreed. "And get into camp fast; Jack really needs a bed. The ground is uncomfortable to sleep on."

I laughed. My friends (the awake ones, anyway) caught my eye, and together we chanted, "With great power comes great need to take a nap!"

Nico looked at us oddly while Percy cracked up laughing.

"Gods, man," he wheezed to Nico. "Don't you remember that? You were eleven and we were running to the Styx, and..."

"And he fell asleep and you had to carry a half-dead son of Hades to a river while trying to avoid skeleton minions," Lachlan finished.

"Yeah," Percy nodded, attempting to control his laughing. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Hey, Nico," I said, having a sudden thought. "There are 5 books in my bag, along with a white-and-purple e-reader. Can you bring those 6 things?"

Nico grumbled a little before darting into a nearby shadow to collect Daniel.

"Come on guys," Percy beckoned. "Follow us!"

* * *

The eight of us new demigods followed the three older demigods past a large white pine tree. Coiled around it was a large dragon, and hanging from one of the branches was the Golden Fleece.

"Thalia's Pine!" Lachlan and Meg exclaimed.

"Also known as the place Percy defeated Pasiphae's son - the first time," Sophie added.

"Where the Golden Fleece now hangs," Mickayla put in.

"And where Peleus the dragon now resides," India continued.

"And the marker of the border to Camp Half-Blood," CJ ended.

Annabeth continued to look at us suspiciously.

"All will be revealed when Nico arrives," I assured her. It didn't stop the suspicious look. I chose to ignore her, pleased when the others did the same thing.

Percy led us past the pavilion, and a giant omega of cabins. I stared in awe at he wide range. Now, not only were there the twin silver and gold cabins, a blood-red messily painted cabin, and a cabin with grass on the roof, but there was also a black cabin outlined with torches made from Greek fire, a plain white cabin that looked as though the people inside never had time to decorate it (though, using the powers of deduction, I realised that the cabin members did have the time - but they used that time to sleep) and a cabin painted with rainbows and cupcakes (which I guessed were supposed to be organic). We followed the demigods past the lava climbing wall and stopped at the Big House. I heard shouting behind us and I turned around to see Nico and Daniel running towards us, a satyr trailing behind.

"So, Percy," the satyr said. "Nine's a large amount of demigods to be traveling together, isn't it?"

"Hey Grover," Percy replied, giving the satyr a manly hug. "Yeah. Apparently they're in America for a movie audition. They say they're from New Zealand."

"Wow," Grover exclaimed. "I didn't know the gods went all the way down there!"

"Nor did I!"

"Apparently they've been here for a few months now," Annabeth interrupted. "I'm surprised they weren't attacked earlier. And there were only six hellhounds! That's not normal."

"And at least one of them's a child of one of the Big Three," Thalia added.

Nico showed Grover exactly who by running over to Jack, throwing his arm over his shoulder and saying, "Grover Underwood, meet my new little brother, Jack!"

"Hey Jack!" Grover turned to Percy. "I would stay longer to meet these guys, but I'm needed in Miami. Apparently something's gone wrong down there involving trees and Greek fire. Gotta go!"

Percy opened the door to the Big House and gestured for us to follow. Sitting inside were a centaur, who I knew to be Chiron, and a plump man holding a can of Diet Coke.

"Chiron, Mr D," Percy said. "We have a bit of a phenomena here. 9 demigods traveling together, including a son of Hades. Even stranger, they know a lot about our world, and, more importantly, my whole life, beginning from Mrs Dodds to falling into Tartarus. I think I know why, and I know that you know why, but Annabeth's freaking out a little, as I never told her about the interviews with Mr Riordan."

"Well, well, well," Chiron said with a smile. "We'd better hear their story. Who's going to talk?"

The eight others looked at me. I rolled my eyes and said, "I guess I will. But first, Nico, can you hand me the books and e-reader. They'll be needed to explain it all."

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**I hope you liked it! Already working on the next chapter! Please review!**

**BJ :-)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey! No, I'm not dead! This chapter is about twice as long as usual, because I decided the first half was too short to be its own chapterThanks to my new reviewers:**

**Willfy66: **_Yep, still going! Glad you like it, these are two of my favourite series!_

**Mandy: **_Please don't die! Here's chapter 12. Really glad you liked it!_

**ilikedragons: **_I like dragons too! Thanks for the review. It makes my heart bubble up when I read reviews like yours! I'm glad I fulfilled your wish!_

**blastburnman: **_As I said in my PM, there's a template at the bottom! I have to say, I've been anxious to bring Grover back in, just for his reaction!_

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**In case you were wondering, blastburnman asked if I was accepting OC's for this story. I responded in a PM and there is a template at the bottom, along with criteria for the characters!**

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**Disclaimer: I will stop putting one of these in every chapter. I am a teenager. I have green eyes and brown hair. I am a female. I sing, dance, act, read, and write fanfiction. I am not a money-making published author (however much I'd like to be), so I think it's safe to say, I'M NOT MR. RIORDAN OR J.K. ROWLING.**

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**This chapter is dedicated to my friends (one who I based the newest character, Amy, on, and the other, just a brilliant motivator) and ilikedragons for the lovely review!**

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I began our tale, after telling the campers, Chiron and Mr D that I wanted _no interruptions. _This was mostly directed at Annabeth. I knew how she got when there was something she needed to know.

"We are all performers. We dance and act, and some of us sing too. We were in America for a movie audition. CJ and Meg are sisters. India is my cousin. Jack is CJ and Meg's distant cousin. Sophie and I met in 2003, and we met CJ in 2004. We met Jack in 2007. In 2008, India moved to Canada. In 2010, I met Mickayla and Daniel, though Jack already knew Daniel, and I think Sophie did too. In 2011, Lachie came to our dance school. Last summer, India came back from Canada and moved in with my mum, my sister and me. That catches us up to how we know each other.

Last year, my dad and his wife went to a friends' place for dinner. We were dragged along too. To keep us occupied while they talked, the man of the house let us look through some of their movies. Right down the bottom of the list, there it was - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. After watching that, I was hooked. I wanted to know more, so my dad gave me a book. After reading it, I noticed the movie company did loads of things wrong. In the movie, Annabeth was brunette. Yancy wasn't a boarding school. You faced a hydra - wrong quest! And most annoyingly of all - the characters were 16! I read the next four books as well - The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. The first few are pretty obvious, and I think you can guess what the others are about. Anyway, of course my first move was to text all my friends and tell them that if they didn't read the books, I would render the boys unable to have children, and the girls bald. I think they believed I wasn't kidding. Most of my threats aren't jokes. Sadly for them, I was. We all read the next series as well. The first book in that was the Lost Hero. That one was about Jason, Leo and Piper's quest to save Hera. The second was Percy in New Rome. And the third - saving Nico here from horridly infuriating twin giants, fighting Chrysaor, meeting Heracles, and all the other things that happened. That ended with Percy and Annabeth falling to you-know-where, and Nico assuring the others the pair would be fine. The next installment will be titled 'House of Hades'. We don't know anything else, so we've been trying not to say anything that will upset you. Please tell us if we do. And that's about it."

Chiron looked thoughtful. "Are those the books?" he said.

"Yes," I replied. And, don't worry about the electronic device. I researched everything I could about monsters tracking demigods, and realised if there's no WiFi or communicative part to the device, it won't track. So I never turn of the WiFi on that thing."

"I see you've worked hard," Chiron complimented.

"We all have," I told him. "We constantly do everything in our power to make sure no monsters come near us. Doesn't stop them from finding our home streets, though. You wouldn't believe how hard it's been for us. We weren't sure demigods even existed in a place like New Zealand. We were so excited when we heard our audition group was visiting Long Island Sound. My only thought was: I'll finally find out if I'm crazy or not. Thankfully, we're not crazy. We only knew that because a child of Athena happened to run through the trees with a bronze shield and sword. No one else in the group noticed it though, so don't worry. Just me, Jack and India. The others weren't looking. We spoke about it later. After a couple of months, we were wandering around like we did every weekend, and we met Mrs O'Leary. We were talking to Percy when we met six hellhounds. Most of our group were knocked out as soon as they attacked. Only me, Jack and Lachie got out of the way fast enough. A minute or so was spent in a game of cat-and-mouse as we waited for Percy. He chucked us swords, and we fought. We were highly lucky that the movie we auditioned for had sword-fighting in it. Although we only learnt rehearsed fights in recalls and recall rehearsals, the same couldn't be said for after rehearsals and recalls. You're probably all wondering what movies we were auditioning for. Well, the auditions are over. We haven't heard from the director yet. Luckily we've got a year before filming's supposed to start - they haven't finished the preceding one yet."

"Billie, shut up," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "The movies were the next two about you guys - the Lost Hero and the Son of Neptune."

* * *

The next few days were strange. I knew the gods were supposed to claim all demigods once they were thirteen. That obviously only applied to America. Or we were just unusual.

It was during the campfire on our third night at Camp Half-Blood that the first claiming happened. There was a flash of bright light, and suddenly Daniel and Sophie gained instant make-overs. Sophie's hair was curled, held out of her face by a simple silver bobby pin on one side, and a beautiful silver rose clip on the other. and she was dressed in a simple, but beautiful, light blue dress, the same colour as her eyes. On her feet she wore simple silver sandals. Her eyes were framed in light sliver eyeliner, and her lips were painted a light rosy pink. All in all, she looked beautiful.

Daniel looked pretty happy with what he'd been dressed in. He was wearing dark blue jeans and simple, black lace-up leather shoes. He wore a plain white t-shirt, and over top of that was a leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up a little. His hair was gelled the way he gelled it for our 2012 end-of-year dance concert.

The campers, including and especially us newbies, froze, watching in reverence.

Chiron raised his arms and called, "All hail the newest children of Aphrodite, goddess of Love and Beauty!"

All of us two hundred-plus campers burst into ear-splitting applause.

An older girl, about eighteen years old as far as I could guess, with choppy, light-brown hair and kaleidoscopic rose from where she was sitting on the far side of the campfire and approached Sophie and Daniel.

"Hi," she said, smiling brightly. "I'm Piper McLean, the cabin counsellor for Aphrodite."

Another girl, this time with dark brown hair and burning hazel eyes, stood and shyly walked over to the three children of Aphrodite. Her eyes were like pits, burning bright, and her pupils were as dark as Tartarus. If I didn't know better, I would have pinned her as a daughter of Hades. However, her flawless skin, sleek, wavy brown hair and unmatchable beauty informed me she was a daughter of Aphrodite. I could see a girl I vaguely recognised from reading about her scowling at the thirteen-year-old. _What was her name again?_ I thought. _Ah, yes. Drew. Drew Tanaka._

"Sophie, Daniel," Piper began, "I'd like you to meet Amy Bonne, the mortal heir to Aphrodite, and, as such, the mortal Princess of love and beauty."

I noted that Amy was everything you'd expect a demigod princess living at a place like Camp Half-Blood to be. I could definitely see her wearing a ball gown and a tiara.

Amy mumbled a quiet hello and gave Sophie and Daniel a small smile before rushing back to her seat. As she ran, one of the other campers pushed a hockey ball towards her, which she promptly tripped over, falling onto her face. A lot of the campers laughed at her as she picked herself up off the ground, blushing, and dusted herself off before running as fast as she could and plopping down onto the ground.

All of a sudden, I could feel waves of heat hitting my left arm. I looked sideways to see India glaring at the girl who'd pushed the hockey ball, occasionally switching her gaze to the laughing campers. I saw her pull a large trash bag from her pocket (though I had no idea why she'd have one in there in the first place) before there was a rush of air, blowing my hair, and she was gone. A moment later, she was dropping back down beside me, and the plastic bag was full.

I looked at her quizzically and, understanding, she opened the bag slightly, just enough to see what was inside. I held in a gasp and gave her a mock glare. Her response was to grin mischievously. Filling the bag to the top was an array of simple objects: pens, notepads, lip gloss, and, best of all, the majority of the items were weapons. Daggers were the most common item; they were small and easy to carry around. However, I could see a sword or two, along with three spears. The most impressive thing, however, was a whole quiver of arrows. Oh, and a pair of shoes, of course.

A grin matching Indi's spread across my face as I watched campers slowly realise they were missing personal belongings. I bit my lip to hold in a laugh when they all turned to glare at two identical-looking boys. Simply by their grins, hair, and eye colour I instantly recognised them as Travis and Conner Stoll, Camp Half-Blood's Resident Troublemakers. They held their hands up and exclaimed, "It wasn't us!"

At the same time, their siblings agreed.

A boy with golden-blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes stepped forward. I guessed he was a son of Apollo. He approached the brothers and frowned.

"Was it you?" he asked sternly.

When the brothers shook their heads again, he frowned once more.

"They are telling the truth," the boy said. I knew then that I had been right - he was a son of Apollo.

"Was it one of Hermes' kids?" an Apollo girl called out.

The Hermes children closed their eyes and scouted the area. They must have found something because all eleven of them simultaneously called back, "Yes."

Indi looked at me, excitedly shocked. I mouthed back at her, 'I knew it!'

The Apollo boy nodded before turning to the other Hermes cabin members. "Was it any of you?"

They all shook their heads, leaving the whole camp (besides Indi and I) confused.

"Do you think I should reveal myself?" Indi mouthed at me.

"Only if you do it dramatically, daughter of the wing-footed messenger," I breathed back, mocking her. She pulled a face before pulling the shoes from her bag. She pulled the shoelaces from each shoe, using the objects in the bag to create highly dangerous bracelets. She quickly pulled the shoes on, threw the quiver over her back and gripped a sword in each hand. Clambering to her feet, Indi whispered "Maia!" before rising above the crowd. In the confusion, no one noticed her flying above the campfire.

I looked up and grinned at India, nodding enthusiastically.

She nodded back at me, and gave me a mischievous grin of her own.

"Hello!" she sang. "I'm up here!" As if choreographed, every head turned to look at my cousin.

She flew down, skimming over the flames of the campfire, pretending to hack their heads off with she swords she held in her hands.

She rose up and began to fight with an imaginary monster. All of a sudden, she stopped.

"Travis! Conner!" Indi yelled. "Catch!"

She threw a sword and a dagger down towards the two boys. Had they not had such quick reflexes as was typical of a Hermes child, they would have been skewered by the blades.

"Come and fight me, you pathetic excuses of children of Hermes!"

"What?!" the brothers exclaimed.

"Oh, it's on, sister!" Travis yelled, clicking his fingers. "Maia!" he shouted.

"No one insults my brother and I's abilities to prank!" Conner growled. "Maia!" he repeated.

Just as Travis and Conner were within reach of Indi, she shot away, jeering, "Na-na-na-na-na, you can't catch me! Ha!" She blew a raspberry at her half-brothers.

Every time they neared her, she darted out of their reach, yelling, "Stupid boys! Can't prank, can't thieve, can't even catch a little _girl!"_

"Hey!" Travis yelled.

"We can prank!" Conner shouted.

"We can thieve!" Travis added.

"And we can _definitely_ -"

"Catch a girl!" they ended together.

Indi shot up to the top branch of a tree and pretended to sit on the tip of the branch.

She began counting on her fingers, "You can't prank. Whenever someone plays a prank, everyone assumes it was you, which means you always get caught. You can't thieve. Same reason. I, however, can thieve. No one knew it was me until I proved it. And I was only trying to prove a point. I wasn't doing to be mean. It just irritated me that everyone was laughing at Amy for tripping over a ball that Drew threw at her feet."

Drew blushed and spluttered indignantly.

Indi continued, "I can prank a roomful of boys in a building housing over thirty boys and girls, not to mention the teachers - without getting caught. Hey, BJ, thanks for the help with the set-up by the way! And, boys... yeah, sorry 'bout that. But the looks on your faces were priceless!"

The boys glared at her playfully while Travis and Conner's faces burned red.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Conner yelled, charging through the air towards Indi, sword raised. Just as he reached her, Indi whipped her sword around and the blades of bronze met in mid-swing. Conner's mouth was set in a harsh line; he was determined to beat his little sister. Being children of the same god, they were evenly matched in skill - something Conner was not expecting. Unbeknownst to the brothers, Indi had trained with a sword when Jack, Lachlan and I were having our mock battles.

As Conner's strength waned, Indi let out a huge laugh. I immediately saw why. Indi had somehow managed to pull Conner's jeans over his shoes, and was now gripping them in her left hand. The whole camp was trying to stifle giggles, lest they alert Conner to his current dilemma. Travis began to laugh loudly, unable to hold it in. Conner turned to him, confused, and Travis motioned to look down. When Conner did, he immediately blushed darkly, reminding me of Harry Potter character Ginny Weasley's flaming red hair.

Indi used the distraction to shave off a little of Conner's hair, steal his sword, and point her sword at his throat, his own sword behind him, preventing the poor boy from moving backwards.

Travis laughed, "Ha, you got beaten by our little sister!"

"Let's see if you fare any better!" Conner growled.

I saw the campers on my right setting up a betting pool. I nudged them and said, "Bet five drachma Indi beats him in the first five minutes."

"Sure. Travis is one of our best swordsman. The only people he can't beat are Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico and Clarisse."

"I think Indi's got a shot. Here, let me hand round the money pouch and betting sheet," I offered. "I'll pass one to my left, and you guys can pass one to your right."

They nodded and we sent the betting sheet around the circle.

Above us, Travis and Indi were circling each other. When it was obvious Travis wasn't going to make the first move, Indi rolled her eyes and swung her sword at him.

Travis messily blocked, but it only five minutes later, Travis was in the same state as his brother - trapped, disarmed and trouser-less.

All campers cheered for the fifteen-year-old who'd managed to get revenge on the two they'd longed for revenge against for years. A cadeceus hologram glowed above Indi's head, and she stared at it in amazement, as if she'd never have believed it without this special sign.

The fire rose multiple feet, a bright gold colour, as hundreds of demigods shouted and clapped.

All in all, a pretty brilliant evening.

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**TEMPLATE:**

**Character full name:**

**Boy/Girl:**

**Wizard, Witch, Demigod:**

**If demigod, parent:**

**Appearance:**

**Any special powers:**

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**Be warned: I may not accept ****any**** demigods, but I will look at the options. This is because I have enough demigod characters. However, I need a whole lot of wizard/witch characters, so a lot of those will be accepted.**

**If your character is chosen, I will be sure to put a disclaimer in stating the character is yours! :)**

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**Hope you liked it!**

**BJ :-)**


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